Evolving definition of sociomuseology : proposal for reflection

Sociomuseology expresses a considerable amount of the effort made to suit museological facilities to the conditions of contemporary society. The process of opening up the museum, as well as its organic relation with the social context that infuses it with life, has resulted in the need to structure and clarify the relations, notions and concepts that may define this process. Sociomuseology is thus a scientific field of teaching, research and performance which emphasizes the articulation of museology, in particular, with the areas of knowledge covered by Human Sciences, Development Studies, Services Science, and Urban and Rural Planning. The multidisciplinary approach of Sociomuseology aims to strengthen the acknowledgement of museology as a resource for the sustainable development of Humanity, based on equal opportunities as well as social and economic inclusion. Sociomuseology bases its social intervention on mankind’s cultural and natural heritage, both tangible and intangible. What characterizes Sociomuseology is not so much the nature of its premises and its goals, as is the case with other areas of knowledge, but the interdisciplinary focus which makes it draw on perfectly consolidated areas of knowledge and relate them with Museology itself.

Sociomuseologia y Globaización

Todos sentimos que el mundo está cambiando de forma muy rápida. Nuestras instituciones dedicadas a la memoria se enfrentan a importantes desafíos en un mundo globalizado. Este artículo tiene como objetivo situar la problemática de la sociomuseología frente a la globalización. Después de reflexionar sobre la evolución de la globalización y la sociomuseología, vamos a problematizar algunas de las cuestiones que emergen como desafíos en la sociomuseología contemporánea y que han sido respondidas de diferentes maneras. Finalmente ilustraremos los problemas abordados con tres ejemplos que consideramos significativos de una sociomuseología en tiempos de globalización

Declaração de Lisboa: resoluções da Comissão Internacional de Formação de Pessoal de Museus (ICTOP)

Considerando que rápidas mudanças nas condições mundiais provocaram uma depreciação da herança natural e cultural, designadamente pela combinação dos interesses nacionais e internacionais; e, - Considerando que há determinadas ideias e convicções que são fundamentais para a existência humana e a inter conexão entre as pessoas, as pessoas e o ambiente, e as pessoas e a sua natureza universal; e, - Considerando que é necessário para os museus como instituições "ao serviço da sociedade e do seu desenvolvimento" assumirem um papel de liderança na comunidade internacional; - Assim, a Comissão Internacional de Formação de Pessoal, reunida em Lisboa, Portugal, de 3 de Outubro 1994, tomou as seguintes resoluções…

Acção cultural e educação em museus

As preocupações com a educação em museus são já muito antigas, embora frequentemente se considere ser o Abbé Gregoire, fundador do Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers em Paris (1794 - finais do século XVIII), o grande impulsionador destas questões, preocupado que estava com a formação técnica dos artífices franceses. No entanto, só a partir do início do nosso século é que se começaram a fazer os primeiros trabalhos de observação dos visitantes e avaliação do tipo e a qualidade das informações fornecidas nos museus, podendo ainda dizer-se que os problemas envolvidos nas questões da acção cultural nos museus só nas últimas duas décadas, têm sido tratados com maior profundidade. A preocupação com estas questões, têm vindo a ser acompanhada por um esforço visível de renovação das exposições, tornando-as mais apelativas, informativas e acessíveis e, ao mesmo tempo, assiste-se à implementação e desenvolvimento de Serviços Educativos nos grandes museus, agregando técnicos com formação pedagógica. A função destes serviços é sobretudo a de descodificar as mensagens contidas nos discursos expositivos e promover acções de animação que permitam ao visitante atingir facilmente os objectivos "educacionais" da exposição.

Mudanças sociais/mudanças museais, nova museologia/nova história - que relação?

O objectivo deste nosso trabalho é analisar a forma como a Museologia nos deve aparecer integrada na mudança geral da sociedade Temos de ter presente que as mudanças sociais são acompanhadas por alterações nas grandes concepções sobre a forma de estar no mundo. Estamos numa era em que os acontecimentos se sucedem a uma velocidade quase assustadora. Há uma explosão das ciências; assistimos á terceira revolução industrial, ao fenómeno da planetarização; nada se passa numa parte do mundo, que não se tenha conhecimento dela segundos depois através dos mass - media. Tudo isto conduz a um questionamento permanente do saber e leva à relatividade do conhecimento: “vamo-nos aproximando cada vez mais do longínquo” (Heidegger). Temos a desconstrução, o vazio e o efémero. O homem é o agente principal desta mudança e também o seu principal visado. A História “ciência dos homens no tempo” vai a partir de meados do século, reflectir esta mudança. A concepção de História muda porque o mundo muda. Que reflexos terão estas mudanças na Museologia?

Declaração de Lisboa: resoluções da Comissão Internacional de Formação de Pessoal (ICTOP)

Considerando que rápidas mudanças nas condições mundiais provocaram uma depreciação da herança natural e cultural, designadamente pela combinação dos interesses nacionais e internacionais; e, Considerando que há determinadas ideias e convicções que são fundamentais para a existência humana e a interconexão entre as pessoas, as pessoas e o ambiente, e as pessoas e a sua natureza universal; e, - Considerando que é necessário para os museus como instituições "ao serviço da sociedade e do seu desenvolvimento" assumirem um papel de liderança na comunidade internacional; - Assim, a Comissão Internacional de Formação de Pessoal, reunida em Lisboa, Portugal, de 3 de Outubro 1994, tomou as seguintes resoluções…

A new concept for museum training in Germany

To talk about a new concept for museum training seems perhaps, to be a little bit exaggerated. For long time you have all been talking about concepts and contents for museum training and as I figured out the debate on the topic in Germany is as old as the appearance of national museums in the 19th century. Men like Theodor Mommsen, Rudolph Virchow, Alfred Lichtwark, all well known historians and supporters of the museum idea, spoke and wrote not only about the importance of museums as cultural and educational institutions but also supported the idea of professionalisation of museums work. Some of the ideas of our ancestors are still part of an ongoing discussion. The topic of my talk today will be what king of personnel a museum of our time needs to cope with the growing demand for internal and external organization. I shall present to you a new training program for museum workers in Germany which aims not to produce a new group of researchers but to prepare students for the practical work in the museum field.

Working in partnership with the Museum Training Institute providing in service training for museum personnel

The South Eastern Museums Service is one of ten Area Museums Councils in Great Britain. They are partnerships; membership organizations to which the 2 000 + museums belong. They provide advice, support, technical services, information and training for their members. They are the principal channel of government grant-in-aid to local government, university and independent museums. This funding comes from the Department of National Heritage via the Museums & Galleries Commission. At the South Eastern Museums Service I am responsible for the development and delivery of training for 600 museums in our region and the provision of information about museums and of interest to museums. This paper explains how we approach in-service training and the value of the definition of national standards for our work. It will pose some questions: What is training? What is a training need? and describe a new initiative, the development of training materials and their delivery.

Museum training to develop the social awareness of cultural identity in a time of universalization

The main theme of the ICTOP'94 Lisbon meeting is museum personnel training for the universal museum. At the very beginning it is important to identify what the notion universal museum can cover. It is necessary to underline the ambiguity of the term. On the one hand, the word 'universal' can be taken to refer to the variety of collected museum materials or museum collections, on the other hand it could refer to the efforts of the museum to be active outside the museum walls in order to achieve the integration of the heritage of a certain territory into a museological system. 'Universal' could also refer to the "new dimensions of reality: the fantastic reality of the virtual images, only existing in the human brain" (Scheiner 1994:7), which is very close to M. McLuhan's view of the world as a 'global village'. Thus, what is universal could be taken as being common and available to all the people of the world. 'Universal' can imply also the radical broadening of the concept of object: "mountain, silex, frog, waterfonts, stars, the moon ... everything is an object, with due fluctuations" (Hainard in Scheiner 1994: 7), which will cause the total involvement of the human being into his/her physical and spiritual environment. In the process of universalization, links between cultural and natural heritage and their links with human beings become more solid, helping to create a strong mutual interdependence.

Guidelines for strategic national planning of training and education for museums, cultural heritage and related fields in Sweden and in international co-operation

The guidelines presented in this document are a preliminary strategy for establishing a comprehensive policy for the needs of training and education wiyhin the sector and adjoining areas, across fields of knowledge and professions concerned, on relevant levels and for the varies institutions and operators. The objective of these guidelines is to analysis the problems, objectives and goals for development of a far reaching system of educational and training programs and courses for museums, cultural heritage and related fields of activities. This objective comprises a close collaboration between museum, cultural heritage organizations and educating organizations, notably within universities and colleges, but also other kinds of educating bodies.

Universal Museum - universal language? Art historian - curator

Marshal McLuhan’s prophetic vision of the global village is about to be realized. If we are aware of the fact that mass communication reduces the dimensions of our world and makes it more unified and universal, we should take this into consideration when planning the Universal Museum and the language that should be used in it. As curators, educators and museum staff we should not ignore the fact that the spectator/viewer is drawn to the exhibits not only by their own merit, but also guided and assisted by verbal messages, i. e. Labels, brochures. Catalogues etc. Hence, the crucial question is what we, the museologists, use as a means of communication when preparing for a Universal Museum. Should we use pictorial semiotics? This may be a partial solution, which is mainly restricted to objects that can be manipulated and moved by the visitor, as is the case in most of the technological museums. But since the range of objects on display at museums is vast and varied - fine art, archaeological finds, ethnographic objects etc., it may not be the answer to the whole spectrum of exhibits. Dr. Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, being an optimist, hoped that by introducing Esperanto to the multi-lingual world population, humanity would be able to bridge and diminish the gap of linguistic differences, thus creating a better understanding between the international communities. Unfortunately this vision was not realized. Esperanto was and still is an utopian and esoteric phenomenon. The barriers between nations still exist although, as mentioned earlier, mass media do help, in some ways, to reduce them.

Musem Training Institute - its current status

Museum Training Institute: Kershaw House, 55 Well Street, Bradford, BD1 5PS Britain’s system of vocational training and qualifications has been undergoing a fundamental revolution in recent years. The single most important feature of this revolution is the concept of competence - the ability to perform to the standards required in employment. It is in recognition of this ability that National and Scottish Vocational Qualifications are awarded.

Integrated educational opportunities in the Universal Museum: five ways forward

Whatever the other characteristics of the universal museum, education must be one of its core functions. That is, education both of regular visitors and those who are not but who are members of the local, regional or national communities served by the museum. In this sense, universal refers to making the museum accessible to all: accessible physically and intellectually. This relates to what I mean by education. It is far broader than what takes place between teachers and pupils in a formal setting. Education is also about providing environments where people will be inspired or provoked to know, to question. To reflect about themselves and the wider human and natural world. A universal museum should be a great facilitator of these learning processes. In this paper I shall focus on five ways in which there can be integration of educational opportunities in the universal museum. For examples to illustrate these themes I shall draw on practices in a small sample of museums in Europe and the USA.

Pour une formation muséologique contextualisée à réinventer en permanence

N’ayant pas tout à fait saisi la portée et le sens du thème proposé pour la conférence “Une formation pour un musée universel”, dois-je comprendre qu’il devrait y avoir un seul modèle de formation pour l’ensemble des musées dans le monde ou bien que ceux-ci devraient refléter en premier lieu des préoccupations dites universelles? Partisan initiateur, militant et formateur de la nouvelle muséologie dans ses composantes sociales et de développement régional, s’appuyant sur les pratiques les plus évoluées de l’écomuséologie et de la démocratie culturelle, héritières de décennies d’action-recherche populaire autonome dans plusieurs régions du monde, je ne crois pas, si telle était la proposition, qu’il puisse y avoir un modèle universel de musée, ni une formation universelle desservant celui-ci.

Le musee local de la nouvelle generation au Portugal, un pas en avant dans la gestion communautaire qualitative : essai d'interprétation épistémologique

Le musée local, au Portugal, tel qu’il apparaît dans la perspective de la révolution socio-cultureile de 74, puis projeté à l’avant-scène de la muséologie portugaise renaissante, lors du IIe Atelier international de Nouvelle muséologie (Lisbonne/Seixal/Monte Redondo — Musées locaux/Nouvelle musólogie, novembre 85), se perpétue jusqu’à nos jours, tout au moins dans le discours de ses promoteurs, préoccupé par le rapport aux pouvoirs et aux populations. Fortement enraciné dans la structure municipale et associative, utilisé à ses débuts, à des degrés divers, comme un outil de militance communautaire, le musée local présente un modèle muséographique de type ethnographique diffusé à travers le pays. Celui-ci est fondé sur la participation de donateurs d’objets utiles de la vie courante, mis à contribution dans le programme, de même que sur l’apport des savoir-faire populaires et artisanaux, évitant de tomber dans le folklorisme par une réflexion alimentée par les universitaires. Ce mouvement naissant correspond à la mode de l’écomusée dont il épouse certains contours, tout en demeurant enraciné dans la tradition ethnographique du pays.